2000 AMC 12 Problems/Problem 3

The following problem is from both the 2000 AMC 12 #3 and 2000 AMC 10 #3, so both problems redirect to this page.

Problem

Each day, Jenny ate $20\%$ of the jellybeans that were in her jar at the beginning of that day. At the end of the second day, $32$ remained. How many jellybeans were in the jar originally?

$\textbf{(A)} \ 40 \qquad \textbf{(B)} \ 50 \qquad \textbf{(C)} \ 55 \qquad \textbf{(D)} \ 60 \qquad \textbf{(E)} \ 75$

Solution 1 (Algebra)

We can begin by labeling the number of initial jellybeans $x$ . If she ate $20\%$ of the jellybeans, then $80\%$ is remaining. Hence, after day 1, there are: $0.8 * x$

After day 2, there are: $0.8 * 0.8 * x$ or $0.64x$ jellybeans. $0.64x = 32$ , so $x = \boxed{(B) 50}$

Solution 2 (answer choices)

Testing the answers choices out, we see that the answer is $\boxed{B}$ .

2000 AMC 12 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 2	Followed by Problem 4
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All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

2000 AMC 10 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 2	Followed by Problem 4
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25
All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions.

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2000 AMC 12 Problems/Problem 3

Contents

Problem

Solution 1 (Algebra)

Solution 2 (answer choices)

See also